The Forest
by In Love .Xx
Summary: The year is 1800. Bella gets lost in the woods and is saved by a man on horseback. She is then taken to a castle deep in the forest and is held there by the man who saved her. Why won't he let her go?


**Okay guys...new story so tell me what you think! :)**

The cool breeze swept across her face as she admired the beautiful waterfall flowing at the opposite edge of the stream. She sighed heavily at the thought of staying there but she knew she could not, she had to return home sometime. It was starting to get dark and she could feel a chill under her many petticoats so, she took one last moment to take in her surroundings and stood up, dusting herself off. Her mother would have her executed if she knew she had been anywhere

near the forest. She started making her way back to her garden in the direction in which she thought she came. She walked and walked the soft ground and the sticks and twigs moving beneath her feet.

She had been expecting to arrive at her exquisitely designed colossal front gates and be greeted by the gate man Sam, but there was no sign of a little lane or the sound of her fathers stern voice shouting at one of the groundskeepers as he usually does on the rare occasion when he is home. Worry and anxiety started to rise inside her and her stomach turned to knots. She stood there panicking, she didn't know what to do. It was getting quite dark now, she pinched her arm tightly.

All she wanted was to wake up from this nightmare. A single tear slid down her cheek as she realised she wasn't dreaming.

She couldn't feel her legs any more and couldn't see them either, she was surprised how quickly she had lost track of time as she was now standing there in almost

pitch black. She became immediately aware of the dark surrounding forest and the frightening noises it produced. She heard the faint howl of a lone wolf in the distance. She remembered the stories that her childhood tutor use to tell her about the happenings of the forest at night.

The worry that had begun to brew inside her earlier had now seeped into every cell in her body. A few brushes rustled beside her as she became aware of the mild wind that had developed during the past five minutes. She had started walking, afraid that if she stood there any longer she would

attract some sort of wild animal with the sound of her irregular breathing. Thought of horrible insects and animals with huge teeth and claws entered her mind and instantly and without any thought or instruction, she started briskly jogging. It was hard to make her way through the forest in the dark. As she jogged, the mud from the ground darkened the bottom of her very expensive white lace dress.

She stumbled quite a lot as it was very dark and she was panicking so much, she was shaking. An overwhelming sense of fear prompted her to start running. She didn't know why she was running or what she was running from but all she knew is she wanted to be out of the dark depths of the forest. The wind swept her hair out of her face as she ran. She ran and ran until her feet started to hurt and she couldn't run any more.

She slowed down until she was walking and felt her feet ache badly. She knew she couldn't stop because she desperately wanted to be at home as much as she hated it, she'd rather be there than here, shed rather be anywhere than here, so she carried on running even though her feet stung with every step, but she was terrified. She slowed her pace a little to dab her handkerchief over her eyes which were now soaked with tears.

After all her running she still couldn't see anything other that the forest. She was so tired and barley had enough strength to move but some how she could not bring herself to stop running. She dodged through the trees, hitting some of them until her foot caught a loose tree route and she fell, hitting the cold, hard ground beneath her. When she awoke it was still as black as coal. She could hear a familiar yet frightening sound growing closer from a distance. She was terribly frightened yet she could not muster the strength to move or even scream, so she just lay there feeling helpless.

The sound grew closer until it came to a halt a few inches away from her. She opened her eyes and tried to focus on what it was that was staring at her but she felt so weak that if she moved one millimetre that her body would shatter into a million pieces. She presumed it was a man who had, by the faint sound of horse hoofs in the distance, rode through the forest. She tried to overcome her dizziness and focus on him. She could now tell it was a man and that he had knelt down beside her and was contemplating on what the situation was. After an estimated three seconds she could feel the earth disappearing from underneath her as two strong arms lifted her into the air as if she weighed no more that a feather.

She was pressed up against his chest as he turned around and started walking. He walked as swiftly and as easily as if he were walking alone. As he walked he took no care and ferociously shook her against his hard, broad chest. As they approached his horse, the animal reared and whinnied which mildly frightened her so she turned her head into his chest. At that moment he stopped and flung her onto his horse, steadying her as she sat upright. She had absolutely no strength left and every bone ached within her.

She felt the cold leather saddle pull to the left a little as the man flung himself onto the back of the horse, wrapping his arms around her and clutching the reigns in front of her. She felt a shudder as the horse was kicked into a high speed gallop which felt to her as if she had just been shot out of a cannon. She winced as the cold air screamed through her body and ferociously swept the hair out of her face. She buried her cold white face into his chest and passed out.


End file.
